Upper Liard (Yukon)
Upper Liard is a place in Canada's Yukon west of Watson Lake on the Alaska Highway, near the border with British Columbia.
145 of the 178 inhabitants belonged to 2006, the Liard First Nation. This group, who also lives at Two Mile, were in January 2009 to 1072 people. Their language is the Kaska, which belongs to the Athabascan language family, being closely related to the Talhtan, Sekani, Beaver, Slavey, and the northern and southern Tutchone.
The name goes back to Liard French fur traders who called the eponymous river " Rivière aux Liards ," meaning " river of the ( Canadian ) poplars ".
History
The traditional territory of the Kaska was at the upper Liard, at Frances and the Hyland River. They lived by hunting and gathering.
The first fur traders arrived in the area, attracted the nomadic Liard near the trading post at the confluence of Lower Post Dease and Liard River in northern British Columbia.
During the Second World War, the USA built after 1942 the Alaska Highway. The 195 m long Upper Liard River Bridge, which connected with Upper Liard Watson Lake was formed. This changed the way of life of the Indians in many parts of the Yukon. Most of them were sedentary.
During the 1980s, several strains have been holding talks with the government, some reached land use agreements. Finally, they reached that they were removed from the authority of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. Thus they received self-government rights and bargained for land claims or compensations. 2000 reached chief Daniel Morris through negotiations in Ottawa that logging licenses were revoked that affected Labiche area. In 2004, the government involved in a housing program with $ 619,382.
2007 acquired the tribe three of the four hotels in Watson Lake, to an apartment block.
Signed in 2001, the Liard an agreement with the territory of the Land Use and consultation requirements of the resource companies that wish to operate in their area. But the Liard saw under the leadership of their chief (Chief ) Liard McMillan cheated out of compensation so that it announced such actions in January 2008. Background was a dispute with the Ross River First Nation, which should negotiate with mining companies compensations agreed, while the Liard should the same cause with oil and gas companies. However, the Liard announced on this procedure that should have on hand for the entire traditional territory of the Kaska groups.
In September 2008, a dramatic decline in the demand for raw materials made up due to the global economic crisis, felt. Accordingly, the applications were for the Liard First Nation Development Corp.. in Watson Lake through guided assembly of all Rohstoffexploratoren sharply.